Indian-American lawmakers criticise new executive order on immigration law separating families

The new executive order on “zero tolerance policy” against illegal immigrants passed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday was yet again slammed by Indian-American lawmakers and rights activists who termed the internment camps ‘cruel and inhumane’. Although the new executive order calls for indefinite detention of families who illegally enter the country even though it […]

By: Express Web Desk | Published: June 21, 2018 5:54:42 pm

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to keep families together at the border, but says that the ‘zero-tolerance’ prosecution policy will continue. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The new executive order on “zero tolerance policy” against illegal immigrants passed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday was yet again slammed by Indian-American lawmakers and rights activists who termed the internment camps ‘cruel and inhumane’. Although the new executive order calls for indefinite detention of families who illegally enter the country even though it stopped the practice of separation of children from their parents.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal termed the immigrant internment camps as “cruel and inhumane”, saying that the new order is absolutely unacceptable.

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Donald Trump signs order overturning family separation policy

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the US border illegally.

“Moreover, lengthy or unnecessary detention of children has been ruled unlawful. If the Trump administration wants to now detain families during a criminal court case, that is unprecedented and will likely be challenged in court. Family separation is wrong. So is throwing families in jail,” Jayapal said.

President Donald Trump reversed the immigration legislation passing a new executive order after receiving flak from Democrats, fellow Republicans and the international community, over children being separated from their families and placed in detention facilities.

The new executive order came after more than 2,300 children were separated from their parents and relatives which now, requires agencies and Pentagon to place families together in family units who have entered the country illegally.

Jayapal criticised the new order saying that Trump “could have ended the family separation with a simple phone call”.

Senator Kamala Harris from California said that the executive order fails to fix the crisis and questioned the ordeal of the 2,300 children who were separated under the earlier law.

“When will they see their parents again? They must be reunited immediately,” Harris said.

Indian American Neera Tanden, who heads Centre for American Progress, a top US think-tank close to the Democratic party, also criticised the order and said, “This is and has always been a policy choice of this administration. Rather than end it, Trump is taking advantage of the outrage over the inhumanity of his family separation policy to ramp up the mass incarceration of children and parents.”

Resonating views with Tanden and Jayapal, Congressman Ro Khanna expressed his content that children would no longer be separated from their parents, however, he believes that the new order “does not come close to fixing the problem”.

“But it simply just replaces one problem with another by locking up families in detainment together,” Khanna said.

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